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You exercise your body to stay physically in shape, so why shouldn't you exercise your brain to stay mentally fit? With these daily exercises you will learn how to flex your mind, improve your creativity and boost your memory. As with any exercise, repetition is necessary for you to see improvement, so pick your favorite exercises from our daily suggestions and repeat them as desired. Try to do some mentalrobics every single day!

It is a myth that humans only use a fraction of their brains. Even though scientists are still trying to unravel the mysteries of the human mind, every part of the brain is known to have a function. From an evolutionary point of view, larger brains would not have developed if there had not been an advantage to do so.

The origins of this myth are unknown, but it might have originated from a researcher named Karl Spencer Lashley who lived about a hundred years ago. He removed parts of the brains of rats and showed that they could still perform certain tests. The problem with these results are that the rats were only tested on tasks that required the parts of the brain that had not been removed. If the rats had been given other tests, they would have certainly failed.

The amygdala is a small part of the brain, adjacent to the hippocampus, that is believed to react most directly to emotions. From studies using brain scans, it has been shown that events that stimulate the amygdala are remembered better over time. This may be why emotionally significant events are remembered better than emotionally insignificant events.

Because the amygdala is involved heavily with emotions, it is believed to play a role in conditions such as anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder and phobias.

The human mind thrives on novelty. Without new experiences our brains get bored and lazy. One way to introduce novelty into your life is to read something that isn't your normal fare. Pick up a magazine that you have never read, or look through a section of the newspaper that you normally skip. Go to a library and pick a random book from a random shelf.

This is a great way to learn new and interesting things. You never know when you might discover a new interest or learn something that relates to something that you are currently working on.

"Achieving Optimal Memory" is a well written book by Dr. Aaron Nelson from the Harvard Medical School. This book goes into the details of prevention, detection and treatment of many common memory problems. Included are exercises and suggestions for improving nutrition and lifestyle to help increase and prolong good working memory.

Sometimes we forget a fact almost instantaneously and sometimes we can remember it for the rest of our lives. If a fact is stored in our short-term memory, we are more likely to instantaneously forget it again. But once information enters our long-term memory, it still may be in danger of being forgotten. Studies have shown that the rate of forgetting is highest shortly after the learning happens and tapers off as time passes. Additionally, we may remember the general idea much longer than specific facts.

The more thoroughly you learn the subject, the less likely you are to forget it. This is because you are reinforcing the memories more deeply into your mind by overlearning the topic. Information learned quickly will also be forgotten quickly.

Another factor that determines forgetting is the amount of reinforcement that you give these memories. If you learn something and then are never asked to recall that information, it is going to be forgotten much more easily than if you use the learned information on a regular basis. So, if you want to remember something, you should learn it thoroughly and then refresh your memory from time to time.